Bank offers ‘final proposal,’ but union sees no differenceAbout 3,000 unionized workers of Standard Chartered First Bank Korea are poised to go on an indefinite strike this week as they have failed to reach a compromise with management on salary.
Despite continued efforts at persuasion and proposals by management, the union still opposes plans from the U.K.-based bank’s Korean unit to introduce a performance-based pay system.
The management on Friday said it has “tabled a final negotiation offer which was modified in order to improve the gap in the positions between the bank and the labor union,” but the union leaders did not appear to have shed their willingness toward a strike.
According to SC First Bank spokespeople, the modified agenda includes forming a performance management task force, as requested by the union.
“The modified agenda for negotiation carries various measures in order to promote employment stability and long-term growth, one of the items being setting up a task force to adopt a fair performance system,” the bank said in a statement.
The revised agenda also includes confirmation that there would be no coercive manpower restructuring, it added.
The spokesmen also said the average base pay for the union members will be raised by 5 percent. “When including the new incentive scheme, the income can increase by 10 percent.”
In addition, they said, the bank will provide employees with tuition subsidy without annual limit for their children.
“Our performance culture is about constructing a platform where the bank and the employee can grow together,” CEO Richard Hill was quoted by his spokespeople as saying.
“To resolve the current impasse, we have suggested a modified agenda for negotiation which includes setting up a task force to develop a performance culture, a major point of demand by the labor union,” he said.
The union has taken the position that management’s proposal is not different from its earlier plan.
On Sunday, a union leader was quoted by an online news provider as saying, “We’re disappointed by the insincere stance in negotiations. We will continue to stage a sit-in protest until our request is accepted.”
He said a large portion of the unionized workers will gather in a city to go on a strike on Monday.
For the same case, the SC First Bank union staged a one-day strike on May 30.
An issue is how many of the 3,400 unionized workers, that account for more than half of the bank’s total 6,500 staff, will participate in the coming protest.
By Kim Yon-se (
kys@heraldcorp.com)
